media blitz. tracie potts has more from washington. tuesday and wednesday will be a whirlwind day there. >> reporter: we're looking for action on both of these. now, when they hit the republican controlled house there could be resistance but before that, this week will see if gun control and immigration amendments and legislation can pass the senate where they were created. the gang of eight is expected to unveil their plan tomorrow. marco rubio was on seven talk shows in weekend pitching it. >> it creates a way for us to address the millions of people here undocumented in a way that's compassionate but responsible. >> reporter: even though four signed on this is by no means a done deal. >> this bill as we understand it on immigration will increase the legal flow of low-skill, low-wage workers. >> reporter: conservatives still insist deal with the border first. >> let's get those things done right now. we will deal with the 11 million

once those things are done. >> reporter: on gun control the deal worked out by joe manchin and pat toomey expands background checks to gun shows and internet sales and expected to come up for a vote midweek. >> we're discussing with colleagues on both sides. we've got bipartisan support. >> reporter: but there's bipartisan opposition too. >> today's problems are tomorrow's loopholes. >> we're talking about background checks as if criminals won't get them because they have to go through a background check. >> reporter: maine's susan collins the first republican to come out publicly telling nbc she will back that manchin/toomey gun control plan. she's aware that a lot of people back home may not. >> tracie potts, thank you. today is tax day and that includes everyone even the obamas. the white house releasing the

president's 2012 tax returns and the commander in chief took a little bit of a hit. mr. obama and first lady michelle made more than $600,000, about $80,000 less than 2011. the drop in income is largely thanks to smaller earnings from the president's books. returns show the first couple paid 112,000 if federal taxes giving them an effective tax rate of 18.4%, however, they did donate more than $150,000 to 33 different charities and by the way savannah guthrie will have an exclusive interview with him on immigration and gun control tomorrow morning on "today." don't miss that. following a developing story coming out of iraq where 32 people are dead after a wave of violence across that country. more than 200 others were injured in the attacks mostly car bombings spanning from battleground northwest of flo j

fallujah and kirkuk. in less than one week the country will hold its first election since the u.s. withdrew its troops in 2011. a former bus driver became venezuela's new president. nicolas madura clinched the title by fewer than 300,000 votes. he's a protege of hugo chavez who died last month of cancer. meanwhile, madura's opponent is calling for a recount. experts say our gas prices will unlikely be impacted. the f achlt achaa is orderie inspection of more than 1,000 boeing 737 jets that could cause pilots to lose control after word that some parts could have factory defects. the parts in question help secure stabilizers that control the up and down movement of the plane. but the faa says these are just inspections and there's no immediate threat or incidents

reported so far. now before we take a look at the forecast with bill karins who is here with us, check out what happened in busineibizmarc. blizzard conditions caused three semis to collide one hauling pigs and one cattle. what a nightmare. the pictures are amazing. >> yeah. spring break was supposed to be like a month ago. >> yeah, but i mean every monday we seem to be going through it. >> another storm behind this. let me show you what happened in the dakotas. this is mostly north dakota storm. it's still snowing. white on the map doesn't snow around grand forks. they have yet to hit 50 degrees in fargo as they've gone throughout the month and 0 in grand forks this year how cold it's been and still a ton of snow on the ground, bizmarck, 17

inches. it's still snowing. we're still in a cool weather pattern but changes this week. today the cool weather, instability, showers but you can see the progress of the storm. notice the radar through central nevada going pretty much from west to east. this storm system will be big in the middle of the country and this map shows you the pink and blue from scheyenne getting 3 t 6 inches. today, one of the cooler days you will see. i think you'll like your forecast as we go throughout the rest of the week. that's a look at your national mentioned weather pattern switches in the days ahead. you have the storm system will kick up the winds.

blowing gusts could be a concern. >> keeping us on. bill karins, thank you. general motors teams up with ford on a 10-speed. the trial of an abortion doctor heating up. and a driver with a passenger here.

welcome back to "early today." 121 new confirmed cases of bird flu increased the total to 60 in china. there are none reported in the u.s. as of yet. a director from the cdc will travel to china with a group of health officials to help with the h7n9 outbreak. one woman was buried in an avalanche. the search has been suspended for a man missing from another avalanche that struck a different hiking group. a florida police shooting instructor was fired for using a target resembling trayvon martin. it was meant to be a teaching aid, he says and blames his

determination on lies and political agendas. a jury in colorado awarded nearly $12 million to settle a case against riddell. this boy was left partially paralyzed with so veer brain damage after a concussion during high school football practice in 2008. former president george w. bush and wife laura have their first grandchild. a girl for jenna bush hager. margaret laura hager was born saturday night and will be known as mila. congratulations. now for a look at what's moving your money. to cnbc's brian shactman. >> all that glitters is not gold. prices fell to a two-year low and investors are selling commodities worried the federal reserve and other global central banks will soon pull the plug on economic stimulus. it is a monday in the world of business. that often means mergers. ther

thermo-fisher buying life technologies which makes genetic testing equipment for $13 billion and would be one of the biggest of 2013. general notes and ford are teaming up to work on more fuel efficient emissions and go into most of their new vehicles and both companies say they could save millions which could keep prices competitive. back to you. >> that's a lot of gear. how high will we go? the dow and s&p both set several new all-time records last week and in fact in less than four months the s&p has already blown past targets set by some analyst for the end of the year. citibank wi citi group will start things off reporting before today's opening bell. with soda sales falling for eight years in a row investors will closely watch results from coca-cola and pepsico. dish network launched a $25.5 billion bid for sprint nextel to compete with japanese mobile

carrier softbank's $20 billion offer. wrigley field and the second oldest park in the majors will get a half a billion dollar face-lift. the hard fought deal between the team and city was announced sunday night. it will include the field's first electronic video board, parking improvements and more night games. nearby rooftop business owners who may lose their bird's-eye view haven't weighed in. tax day and that means freebies and deals galore including free zina bon bites, free arby's curly fries. a viewer can call in and change the outcome and tiger woods is the target. new measures for gun control. you're watching "early today."

now some other stories that caught our eye. a massive explosion rocking a utah county area leaving a heap of twisted metal and rubble in its wake. the powerful blast inside an oil field building was ignited by a combustible mix of two ruptured propane tanks and air. no one injured but 26 structures including four homes were damaged in that big explosion. nebraska bus driver fired for this attack on a passenger. the victim is punched 18 times and later dragged off the bus after he apparently agitated

driver with several questions about the bus route. assault charges against the driver are pending. el paso and the implosion of the old city hall building that lasted ten seconds and rattled neighbors. nearby residents ducked for cover. kind of fun to watch that stuff. the longest bridge in the florida keys attracted over 1500 runners for the 31st seven-mile bridge run, two floridians took home the top prizes in men's and women's division. an exciting playoff finish at the masters. angel cabrera's putt for a birdie stopped just short of the hole and adam scott sank his 12-foot putt and the birdie gave him a one-stroke victory over cabrera. scott is the first australian to win the masters. >> what an incredible day. where everything fell my way in the ep, i guess and you just never know and i just kept plugging away. >> following the win they held a traditional green jacket ceremony to welcome scott into

the exclusive club of masters champions with the green jacket. jason day was third and tiger woods was tied for fourth. the big controversy came after a television viewer's call when he was given a two-stroke penalty. thomas vonn sent a tweet joking that he was that viewer saying "no problem masters tournament happy to call in and help. you always have to keep an eye on those cheaters. smiley face, end quote. dirk nowitzki sank an 18-foot jumper to pass the 25,000-point mark for his career. he's only the 17th player to do that in league history and the mavs beat new orleans, 107-95. the quidditch world cup was held. it does not include flying but players are required to use broomsticks to run around the field. "early today" sports brought to you by touch of gray. get rid of some gray, never all. >> just ahead for you the

stories leading the news this morning, plus it was a big weekend for "42." details next.

welcome back. the winds will howl this afternoon in the southwest. wind warnings in effect. not so much for the big cities but driving the highways in areas of central portions of southern california, could gust up to 65 miles per hour. so a lot of blowing dust too the desert area. the storm system with the winds and to and rain will be kicking in moving on out. so if you head into the inner

mountain west during the day today behind it will be much improved weather. kind of cool, 50s and 60s today. as we go into tomorrow we start to warm things up a little bit. san francisco and l.a., of course, on the coast a little different for you but you can see that in sacramento. we go from 65 to 70 to 75. by thursday we're looking at 80 and sunny, so many areas of california all smiles through the rest of the week. >> good weather in the state's capital. thanks a lot. jackie robinson continued to make history this weekend. "42" had the biggest opening weekend ever for a baseball movie pulling in $27 million over three days. "scary movie 5" did not fare nearly as well making 15 million. the big wins at sunday night's mtv movie awards went to "silver linings playbook" and "the avengers" which won movie of the year. however, will ferrell took home an honorary comedic genius award, accepting it in a money printed three-piece suit and brought his family on stage, it

was a fake family. >> are you sure? >> yes, i'm just guessing. i'm just guessing but it went well with the suit. kelly ripa revealing in an interview she's not seen former co-host regis philbin since he left in 2011 so i guess -- >> weren't speaking the whole time. >> the best of friends, yeah, they did a great job. hugh jackman got a bit of a scare when an alleged stalker followed the actor into a new york gym. this woman threw and electric razor filled with her own hair at jackman >> that's over the top. >> before fleeing that gym. she was arrested minutes later. jackman was not injured. justin bieber visited the anne frank house in amsterdam and managed to anger just about everyone because what he wrote there in the guest book was hopefully she would have been a belieber. those are the words so to you, my friend, bill karins, can you believe that. >> i've been a huge justin bieber fan.

now this crosses the line. the poster goes down from my room. >> i'm richard lui. your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

leading the news in "the new york times," rifts in both parties complicate odds for gun measure. some democrats and republicans facing re-election in conservative states will not support new background checks. in "usa today," media late to coverage of abortion doctor's trial. this is the case of the late term abortion doctor kermit gosnell. the start of the buddhist

new year celebrated in asia with annual water festivals. people in mian particular were splashed with water. symbolic of washing away the sins of the old year and in thailand their famous festival people were using super soakers for a water fight. musicians in peru beat their way to a new drumming record. more than 1500 people participated in breaking the new local record for the largest number of players of the peruvian drum called a cajon made of a wooden box with a sound hole on one side played by slapping the front with your hands beating last year's record by 48 people. >> i played that on stage somewhere. >> you're a cajon user. >> amateur. >> all right. that's two things we're learned. a belieber and a cajon. moscow's cat theater is open again after more than a year of renn vagus and cats perform some amazing circus tricks on stage. one jumps from one human's back

to another and one tabby climbs a bowl and jumps back down billed as the only cat theater in the world and the audience loves it and bill karins owns a cat. >> i dress up as a clown occasionally and you could say daily. >> or act like one. great stuff today. time for a look ahead and look back. president obama honors the bcs national champs of football. the crimson tide will be at the white house to celebrate their victory and 15th national championship there. on this day in 1947 a major milestone in u.s. sports history. jackie robinson broke baseball's color barrier beginning his major league career with the brooklyn dodgers. happy birthday to harry potter star emma watson. she is 23. actor seth rogen turns 31 and emma thompson, 54 years old. here's a look at what's coming up later on "today." secretary of state john kerry wearing in on how the u.s. may respond and paris jackson

reveals surprising new details about her childhood and her late father, michael. now, keep an eye on this channel for continuing local news. i'm richard lui along with bill karins. thanks for watching "early today." your first stop of the day on the your nbc station. have a great start to the week.

. . east bay firefighters forced to dive for cover. >> they will not voluntarily accept responsibility. our goal is to force them to.

>> audrie pott's family gets ready to break their silence and make a major announcement after her death. time to take you live outside. beautiful san francisco bay bridge. good morning. get your day started on this monday, tax day, april 15th. this is "today in the bay." from nbc bay area, this is "today in the bay." >> that yea that i heard from the newsroom when i announced tax day was a little unenthusiastic. >> we are here to help you get through it. good morning. i'm jon kelley. i'm laura garcia cannon. maybe the weather will cooperate with a little rain on monday not going to happen. we want to make it as tough for you as possible as we meet back here monday morning. good morning to you. we have showers and really, really windy conditions in the forecast for today. right now, you can see a little

bit of shower activity coming down along 101 from san jose down to morgan hill. you want to travel cautiously. that's the only place in the bay area we are getting any of the light rainfall. we are still fair game just to our north. we are also going to see rough seas and windy conditions develop. i'll take you to that forecast coming up. let's get you ready for a monday morning. >> christina is talking about the wind developing later on. they already started warning some folks crossing the san mateo bridge. gusty winds at times. it is going to get more and more severe over the course of the morning. a steady eddy shot and a light flow. we will show you the approach. no big deal. there is a little slowing approaching the toll plaza against san mateo dumbarton. now, to breaking news in berkeley where police have just arrested a gunman that shot at